Shallow Darkness
"Shallow Darkness" is the twelfth episode of Ronin Warriors. It was originally broadcasted on syndicated television during the summer of 1995, and was eventually aired through reruns on the SciFi channel, as well as part of Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block. Summary Just when they've made it inside Dynasty territory, the Ronin Warriors are separated again. It's up to Sage to protect Mia and Yuli, but he struggles when he finds himself confronted by Kale and his overwhelming darkness. Synopsis The Ronin Warriors, Mia, Yuli, and White Blaze walk through the abandoned streets. Ryo comments on the silence, and Kento calls out for Talpa to make an appearance. Mia doesn't understand why it was necessary to destroy so much of the city. Yuli suddenly notices the shop where he bought his skateboard from and runs over to it, causing Mia to scold him. She, then, also recognizes the area as where they first met, as does Ryo. Yuli fights back tears as he remembers his mother and father, and knowing that he has to help them escape the Dynasty's clutches, takes off on his skateboard, much to Mia's dismay. Ryo jokes about how much of Mia's time is taken up by Yuli. Rowen chimes in about Mia charging his parents for childcare before Sage snaps that they shouldn't have to be dealing with it. Cye reminds them about the Staff of the Ancient One, but Kento thinks they shouldn't rely on it. White Blaze suddenly starts growling, crouching in defense position. Ryo wonders what's going on, but then the Ronins sense the disturbance, as well. Dynasty soldiers crash through the display windows and assault the teens, who barely have time to dodge the simultaneous attacks. They find themselves surrounded by the enemy on all sides. Rowen questions what happened to Mia and Yuli, but the soldiers make it impossible for any of the Ronins to find them. Ryo shouts for Mia and Yuli to run away, hoping they will hear him. A short distance away, Mia and Yuli hear Ryo's voice, but can't make out the words. Mia suggests that they head back to the others. Before they even get moving, a soldier attacks them and is thwarted by White Blaze. They take off running as more soldiers arrive only to find themselves surrounded, as well. Mia calls out to Ryo, but he doesn't respond. She suddenly spots a subway entrance leading underground and directs the other two over to it. Beneath the city, the two stop short in a corridor upon seeing a dark shadow. Their hesitation, however, causes them to be assaulted by another Dynasy soldier. It knocks White Blaze out of it's way only to be stopped by Rowen. He sends Mia and Yuli on their way while he remains behind with White Blaze to take on the soldiers. They run into the parking garage, but an electrical surge suddenly strikes each and every car. The cars start moving on their own, trying to run the two civilians down. Ryo, Cye, and Kento arrive in the nick of time. Kento offers to take care of the rest of the killer cars. Ryo's distracted as he watches Hardrock slow down a truck, leaving Cye to quickly move Mia and Yuli out of the way of another oncoming vehicle. He tells Ryo to get the two out while he and Kento finish up in the parking garage. Ryo agrees, escorting Mia and Yuli away from the wreckage. Ryo, Mia, and Yuli run through another area of the underground shopping strip, filled with mannequins. Mia barely has time to comment on the lack of people when another soldier leaps out at them., taking them all by surprise. Ryo takes it out quickly and then starts to question the possibility of this whole set up being planned. More soldiers show up, forcing Ryo to send Mia and Yuli on while he takes them out. He tells them to head up to the street level. However, as they reach the exit, they find themselves barricaded by large metal doors. Yuli suggest that they use the stairs on the subway platform, but they stop when they hear the sounds of the soldiers up above. Mia leads Yuli in the opposite direction instead, down a smaller flight of stairs to another platform. Mia and Yuli run down the tracks, away from the battle. However, they are blinded by an oncoming subway car. They leap off the track just in time, landing on a different track. As they recover, Mia checks on Yuli's condition. Unfortunately, another subway car appears on the track, once again aiming to run them over. Sage arrives in time to grab them and leap up out of the way, dangling from the ceiling and waiting for the car to pass by. Yuli's amazed by the Light Warrior's timing, and Mia comments on how they nearly didn't make it. Sage believes that the Dynasty intended it to be this way, stating that they used Mia and Yuli to separate the five Ronins. Back on the tracks, Yuli finds that one of the wheels has broken off of his new skateboard. Mia worries about the soldiers continuing to come after them, which Sage confirms. He leads them back down the track, though Mia protests. However, the three stop upon hearing the soldiers in the surrounding area. Yuli notes that the soldiers are all over the subway. Sage thinks to himself how, if he were alone, he could just stay and fight, but Mia and Yuli's presence make it impossible. Suddenly, Sage feels air coming from a vent located above them. He leads the civilians through it, suspecting it will lead up to the street. As they make their way though the vent on their hands and knees, Yuli hears the tell-tale signs of the Dynasty soldiers. He quickly warns the others that they're being followed, but Sage says that the exit isn't far off. As they push the grate off the vent, Sage and Mia breath a sigh of relief and Yuli runs out onto the street only for them to discover that they are once again surrounded by soldiers. Meanwhile, the other four Ronins have fully armored up to take out the Dynasty soldiers. Cye's attack breaks through the outer wall, and he plunges into the body of water waiting below him. As more soldiers arrive, he unleashes his special attack to destroy them. Cye surfaces, wondering where everyone is and why the Dynasty wanted them separated. Rowen has also made his way outside, shooting arrow after arrow into every soldier that assaults him. He finally gets away, deciding to search for the other Ronins. Kento knocks down the last two Dynasty soldiers on his end before getting a chance to look around and see that he has no idea where he is. As for Ryo, his first thoughts upon defeating his opponents are of Mia and Yuli, questioning where everyone has gotten to. Sage dons the Armor of Halo and charges at the Dynasty soldiers. Mia and Yuli cheer him on. Halo recommends finding the others, but before they can get going, the sky begins to fill with thunder and lightning. Lightning strikes one of the taller buildings, bringing it down. The three run for it, managing to make it back underground before the building lands on top of them. Unfortunately, their exit is blocked by the rubble, effectively trapping them inside. Sage comments on the soldiers trying to keep them undergound. Kale arrives, confirming this suspicion. Mia says that the reason the Warlord would want them underground is to use his powers to their fullest extent. Yuli expresses his fear, and Sage tells the civilians to get out of the way. He questions Kale if he really thinks the Warrior of Light will be defeated by the darkness. Kale finds Sage's choice of words interesting and is eager to find out which of the two warriors truly is stronger. He unsheathes his sword, concentrating his power into absorbing all the remaining light. Sage is confident that his light will not be defeated by Kale's darkness and so launches an attack. Kale counters, and the two blades clash. As they each struggle to gain the upper hand, the Halo Sword begins to flicker. Sage is surprised to find himself the weaker of the two, but Kale's not, as his sword is continuing to absorb the light that powers the Halo Armor. With that, the Warlord of Darkness sends Sage flying into a nearby pillar, much to Mia and Yuli's dismay, and proceeds to vanish into the unnatural darkness. Sage recovers, but notices that he can no longer find where the Warlord is. Kale is delighted by this, as he is quite capable of seeing the Ronin. He appears briefly in front of Sage, slashing his blade just as Halo jumps out of it's way. The next time he appears, however, he's right behind Sage and has no problem landing a hit. Sage gets back to his feet, frustrated. Kale continues to taunt him, suggesting he use the armor's light power. The Ronin hesitates, though, knowing that Mia and Yuli could be hurt. Mia realizes this, too, and Yuli acknowledges that Sage has to use his full power. Sage suddenly senses the Dark Warlord attacking him from above and jumps out of the way just in time, but cannot block the second slash of the sword. Though he goes down, Sage gets right back up again. Glancing around, he sees that it's almost like Kale's everywhere at once. Kale offers to kill Sage now to put him out of his misery and unleashes his special attack. Sage does his best to block with his blade, but he's eventually struck by the power of darkness. Yuli tries to run forward to help, but Mia holds him back. She tells him it's too dangerous. Yuli doesn't care, though, because if Sage is defeated, he will lose his chance to save his parents. During their struggle, Mia drops the Ancient's Staff. Yuli picks it up and runs out of Mia's reach, calling to Sage. Halo tries to tell Yuli not to help, but he's weak and his full armor has faded, leaving him in his underwear. Yuli insists on fighting, and Kale is more than happy to take him out, too. But Yuli throws the Staff into the fray just as Kale strikes the boy down. Sage's virtue flashes on his forehead and the Ancient's Staff releases a powerful ray of light. Sage quickly transforms back into the Armor of Halo, warning the Warlord that he can see exactly where he is now. Light and darkness clash once more as Sage and Kale attack simultaneously, but this time Halo's light wins out and the Warlord is defeated. Sage's attack has blasted a hole in the ceiling above him, and the light of the world above breaks through and banishes the darkness. Sage rejoices in his victory for a moment before going to check on Mia and the wounded Yuli. The boy's happy Sage won. The Ronin apologizes for thinking that Yuli was a burden and thanks him for the save, but Yuli brushes it off. He notes that the Staff helped him, but as they look around, it seems as though it has vanished. The three make it back topside, staring off into the distance. Elsewhere, the other four Ronin Warriors also begin their search to find each other again. Category:Episodes Category:Ronin Warriors Continuity *The Ronins, Mia, and Yuli crossed into Dynasty territory during the previous episode, "Assault on the Dynasty." *Yuli thinks back to when he bought his skateboard with his parents during the first episode, "Shadowland." *Sage once again finds the presence of the Ronins' companions to be a nuisance. This time, while he's still not pleased about having Mia around, he spends most of the time being annoyed by Yuli. *Mia still has possession of the Ancient's Staff from "Assault on the Dynasty," but it disappears after Yuli uses it to save Sage. Title The title refers to Kale's power of darkness, as well as the darkness that Sage notes as naturally covering the underground subway tunnels the Warlord has trapped him, Mia, and Yuli in. Cast ::: Ryo of the Wildfire — Matt Hill Rowen of the Strata — Ward Perry Cye of the Torrent / Sage of the Halo — Michael Donovan Kento of Hardrock — Jason Gray-Stanford Mia — Lalainia Lindbjerg Yuli — Christopher Turner Kale — Richard Newman Narrator / Yuli's Father — David Kaye Yuli's Mother — Sara Anne Dafoe Quotes "Yuli, I don't want you taking off by yourself." : — Mia acts as Yuli's guardian while his parents aren't around. Ryo: "Well, looking after Yuli seems to be a full-time job for Mia." Rowen: "Yeah, just think of the babysitter bill his parents'll get." : — Ryo and Rowen comment on Mia and Yuli. Rowen: "Cye, move it! You get to Mia and Yuli!" Cye: "Sorry, I'm a little busy right now!" : — None of the Ronins can escape the onslaught of Dynasty Soldiers. "They must've heard about a sale." : — Ryo, on the Dynasty soldiers appearing in the underground mall. "I have a charge account here. They can't lock us in." : — Mia, on the locked doors in the subway system mall. "You were part of the plan, and they were just using you two to split the five of us apart. And it worked." : — Sage reveals the Dynasty's scheme. "It's just like shooting fish in a barrel." : — Cye faces off against the Dynasty Soldiers underwater. Sage: "Let's find the others before anything else happens." Mia: "Yeah." Sage: "Huh? Too late." : — Sage does his best to look after Mia and Yuli. "You really think you can shut me down with this shallow darkness? The Sword of Halo will destroy this gloom and doom you've created." : — Sage confronts Kale, Warlord of Darkness. Kale: "You look miserable, Sage of Halo. I will kill you now, and end that for you." Sage: "Thanks." : — Sage responds sarcastically to Kale's threat. Category:Episodes Category:Ronin Warriors Cultural references *While unleashing his power, Kale uses the phrase "Welcome to the Dark Side." This is most likely a reference to George Lucas' Star Wars franchise. Goofs Animation Mistakes Dialogue Mistakes English Dub Mistakes *When Sage was expressing his opinion about Yuli's getting in the way, he addressed Cye when he was supposed to be talking to Rowen and Ryo. Category:Episodes Category:Ronin Warriors Trivia * See Also *Seiji! The Struggle To the Death In the Darkness Category:Episodes Category:Ronin Warriors